Perspective
by TeenageMutantNinjaLlama
Summary: I am the daughter of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, the little sister of Itachi Uchiha, and the twin of Sasuke Uchiha. This is what happened when I, an Uchiha through and through, mixed with the wrong-or maybe the right?-sort of people. OC, NarutoxOC, AU
1. Prologue

My name is Tsukaimono Uchiha, and I was a heart problem. I was the kind of heart problem that plagued unborn infants while they were growing in their mother's womb. I was the kind of heart problem that forced my father to give up on his second son before he was even given a chance. I was the kind of heart problem that made a woman grieve with the knowledge that her child wouldn't even live to see his first birthday. I was the kind of heart problem that a whole clan of people came to hate.

I was also the kind of heart problem that turned out to be nothing more than another child. I was the kind of heart problem that came as quite a surprise when I popped out of my mother's body right after a perfectly healthy baby boy. I was the kind of heart problem that grew up alongside my siblings as normal as any other. I was the kind of heart problem that one unfortunate doctor misdiagnosed.

My name is Tsukaimono Uchiha and I am not a heart problem. I am the daughter of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, the little sister of Itachi Uchiha, and, most important of all, the twin of Sasuke Uchiha. This is the story of what happened when I, an Uchiha through and through, mixed with the wrong (or maybe the right?) sort of people.


	2. Wrong

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this except for the character Tsukaimono Uchiha.

A/N: This is my first multi-chaptered fic for Naruto, so please don't be too hard on me. I don't want it to be too dramatic of a story, so don't expect anything major. Points to anyone who can point out the Legend of Zelda reference!

Wrong

When I was a baby in the womb, no one knew of my existence. My brother and I were both rather small, so most assumed Mikoto Uchiha had only one baby growing inside of her. The only real hint at my presence was my heartbeat. My mother's doctor was puzzled by the seemingly irregular heartbeat of my brother and decided that he would have a multitude of heart problems in the future. My father, Fugaku Uchiha, was devastated. Fugaku quickly came to the conclusion that his second son would be utterly useless to him; he would only take up space and money for medical bills. He gave up on the little boy growing in his wife's belly.

Imagine their surprise when I was born into the world next to Sasuke, and we were both perfectly healthy infants. They were happy of course and spoiled us as babies. I would like to say that my brother and I grew up happily with no problems or concerns, but that would be a lie. Because of my father's decision that Sasuke was going to be useless to him, he had already made the preparations necessary, naming Itachi as the sure successor of the Uchiha Company. This may have been only natural, as Itachi is the oldest child. However, Sasuke knew that Itachi had no interest in taking over the company. He felt that the company should belong to someone who actually wanted it, to him. And for this, he grew to resent Itachi and the fact that he didn't have to try hard to prove himself as worthy in our father's eyes.

I was different. As a girl, I wasn't expected to have any interest in the company, which I didn't. So there was no reason for me to compete with Itachi or prove my worth. I grew closer to Itachi than Sasuke did, and we had a pretty good relationship. The competitive nature of Sasuke and need to please our father, Itachi's mind games with everyone as a player, and my utter cluelessness to the dynamics and nature of our family created some sort of dysfunctional barrier between parents and children. As siblings we tried to look out for each other, we cut ourselves off from our parents, and, because of that, this is what happened when I met him:

Konoha Private Academy was probably the most prestigious school in all of the Fire Country. With its large campus, wide variety of classes and extra-curricular activities, not to mention its widely-known honors program, only the wealthiest or most deserving students could even hope of getting the chance to attend. The tuition was extremely high and very few were accepted in the scholarship program. After someone was accepted into the program, they hardly had time to "pat themselves on the back". Nothing short of academic excellence was expected from the students on the scholarship program. Why pay someone to scrape by in school when plenty of other kids, who had parents who could pay, were already doing the same exact thing? Even then, their parents were most likely pushing them to do well in school anyway. No, students could not get by with bad grades; it was completely unacceptable.

That's why, when Sakura Haruno came running up to me asking for help on the next world history test, I wasn't surprised. I had noticed that she seemed to have a heavy load of AP classes this year, and a sophomore can only keep up with so many college courses, even one as smart as her. It was only a matter of time before she caved under the workload, which would, unfortunately, most likely lead to her losing the scholarship.

"Tsuki, I really need your help studying for the world history test Wednesday." I put my book down and looked up at her. She was setting her things down beside the lunch table.

"What do you need help with?"

"Well, I have trouble with the Hundred Years war. The battles all blend together." I laughed at the annoyed look on her face. Sakura hated not being able to understand things. When most things came easily to a brilliant mind like hers, any little challenge was seen as an annoying inconvenience "I can't remember when what happened or who did it."

"I understand," I said, smiling, "I have some flash cards if you want to borrow them." She looked at me questioningly as she took a bite of her food. "Sorry but I can't actually come over to help you. I'm going to visit my brother today and I have to go to Sunny Days tomorrow." She seemed a bit disappointed.

"Oh, that's okay. How is Itachi?"

"He's fine. I haven't been to visit him in awhile though."

"Is Sasuke going with you?" Sakura lit up a bit when she said Sasuke's name. The only thing I didn't really like about Sakura was her long-standing crush on my brother. It had gotten better as we grew older, but I still tried to avoid talking about him with her. I knew she wasn't after him for his popularity or money, Sakura just wasn't like that. Still, I was a bit uncomfortable discussing how "smoking hot" my brother looked in his school uniform.

"Am I going where?" I looked up from my food. Sasuke was sitting down across from me, and his friend Neji Hyuuga sat next to him. Hinata was not far behind, sitting down next to her cousin.

Hinata Hyuuga was the heiress to the Hyuuga fortune and everything that came with the name. Neji was her cousin and the one who would most likely succeed her father in the company. Hinata was rather shy and was never too far from her cousin. Neji was sort of like a big brother to her, and I respected that about him. Though he sometimes seemed exasperated with her stuttering and introverted nature, I had never witnessed him abandon her for anything.

"I was just telling Sakura of my plans to visit Itachi today."

"I was wondering if you were going with her. If not, could you help me study for the world history test that's coming up?" Sakura leaned on the table eagerly, as if Sasuke was the only person worth conversing with. He shrugged. She took that as a 'yes' and smiled brightly for the rest of lunch. I listened disinterestedly to the idle chatter of my friends as I skimmed over my book.

"Put that down before you break it." I frowned at my brother, but set down the small sculpture I was inspecting before he walked in.

"Sorry, how rude of me," I didn't try to mask the sarcasm in that statement, "It's very pretty." I glanced back at the smooth little bird that was sitting on Itachi's coffee table. He sat down next to me on the couch and grabbed the remote, turning the television on.

"Deidara made it and left it here."

"Oh…," I said, glancing warily at it now. Itachi's friend was known for making things that exploded randomly and leaving them around. I swore to get back at him after he left a small owl sitting on my dresser. I had spent the whole day cleaning the paint that had burst out of it off of every exposed surface. Father still blames me for the incident. "Why do you still have it then?"

"I was planning on slipping it in his pocket the next time he came over." That was a dangerous gamble in my eyes; it could go off at any moment. I slid away from it, putting as much distance as I could between me and the object.

Itachi and I sat in silence, watching some documentary on potatoes. It was a bit more interesting than one would think, but not enough to hold my attention for more than a few minutes. Now that I was sitting on his couch, I wasn't sure why I was here. I never really knew what to say to my brother when we were left alone. We don't have much in common other than music and maybe art. It was different when we were younger. I would disclose any secret or overheard conversation between our parents to Itachi, regardless of the consequences. He seemed willing enough to listen to me chatter mindlessly while he did homework. Being an ignorant child, I never realized he had used me as a sort of mole. Our parents would speak of things around me that they wouldn't him, as they deemed me too young to understand. They were right, but I was always praised when I could recite a conversation they'd had. I thought it was simply a way for me to practice memorization; Itachi had other uses for my talent.

I came back to the present when the doorbell rang. Itachi stood, dropping the remote in my lap, and went to answer the door. I was just turning to the news when something heavy landed on my lap. I shrieked involuntarily and pushed the clay hawk onto the floor where it fell with a thud.

"Ha, your sister's as funny as ever, Itachi, un!" I cringed as Deidara plunked down heavily next to me. "I haven't seen you in forever Tsuki! What've you been up to?"

"Nothing that concerns you, and don't sit so close to me." Deidara feigned a hurt look.

"Aw, Tsuki, that's mean! I'm genuinely interested in what my best friend's little sister has been doing with her life. Oh, let me guess! You found a boyfriend, un? Am I right?" Itachi seemed to freeze on his way back to the couch. I could see that familiar twitch in his eye, signaling that he was beyond annoyed at something.

"No I haven't and I would appreciate it if you would cease in poking your nose where it doesn't belong!" My speech tends to grow more proper as I get annoyed. Itachi sat down between Deidara and I, handing us sodas.

"It's denial, un. Don't worry; I'll make sure to find out who he is." I took a sip of the nasty diet cola and sighed.

"How many of your friends are coming over, Itachi?"

"I didn't invite him."

"Yes, but when one comes, the rest tend to swarm." The doorbell rang for the second time that evening before Itachi could respond. I looked at him meaningfully.

It wasn't long before the living room was full of loud men and I was regretting my decision to pay Itachi a visit. Deidara was starting yet another argument with Sasori regarding art, Kisame was ranting about the fish he had found in the freezer, and Hidan was cussing up a storm at some sports discussion on the television. I didn't mind Tobi or Zetsu who were being rather quiet, but the rest of them needed to shut their loud mouths. I stood up abruptly, preparing to leave, when a hand grabbed me by the arm.

"What Deidara? What do you want?"

"Don't forget your present!" He shoved the hawk that had lain, forgotten on the floor, into my arms. I was about to refuse angrily when the stupid bird exploded into a colorful burst of yellow paint.

"Oh my God, when I get my hands on him again, I'm going to rip that stupid ponytail right off of his smug little head!" I was stomping down the street with paint staining my blouse and jeans and drying slowly in my long hair. Usually, I would have called a driver to come pick me up, but I didn't want to have to explain any of this on the off chance that it would reach my father. He wasn't as forgiving as I was when it came to things like this and would easily find some way to punish Itachi for his choice in friends. Glaring at my ruined shoes, I was mentally stabbing Deidara with pointy objects as people turned to stare at me. "That freaking blonde maniac better pray that I never run into him again, or so help me I'll shove his stupid art straight up his-,"

"Um, are you okay?" I stopped suddenly and looked up at the guy who was talking to me. He was blonde (which only served to anger me more as I was reminded of Deidara) with weird whiskery marks on his cheeks. I had the vague sense that I had seen him somewhere before, but it didn't matter.

"Do I look okay to you?" He frowned and I could tell that I had angered him.

"Well excuse me, princess! I was just trying to be nice." His voice had grown unusually loud with anger.

"What did you just call me? I'm no princess, idiot." I tried to move past him, but he stepped in the way.

"Get out of the way." I gritted my teeth, clenching my fists. The last thing I needed right now was some stupid kid giving me a hard time. I was tired and covered in paint and all I wanted to do was take a nice hot bath. If this infuriating twit wanted to give me trouble, he had another thing coming. He smirked.

"Make me."

I walked away triumphantly as the kid fell to his knees, grabbing his crotch.

"You bitch!" I ignored his yell, liking the way his voice had jumped up an octave in pain. Glancing back at his furious expression I had the feeling that I had done something wrong. He deserved it, I thought angrily, he shouldn't have messed with an Uchiha.

Sunny Days is hell on earth. Not only do kids hate me, but they like to make it known. So helping out at the local daycare three days a week was probably not the best idea in the world. The second I walked into the brightly painted building, they came at me like hyenas on scraps of meat. I fell to my knees under a pile of small children as they pulled my hair, poked me in the ribs, and proceeded to cover me with whatever icky substance the boss had decided to let them play with.

You're probably wondering why someone as wealthy as I would subject myself to the torture that is volunteering, and I would like you to know that I am wondering the same exact thing. This was my father's brilliant way to teach me the benefits of hard work. As if I don't know already. I just realize that I don't need hard work when I'm the daughter of Fugaku Uchiha. He should learn that lesson.

Anyway, as I was getting swarmed by kids, I heard someone walking up and pulling kids off of me.

"Thank you, Tenten." The brunette smiled at me with a little girl in her arms.

"No problem. What did you do to make all children dislike you with so much passion?" I scoffed, pulling myself off of the floor. Yes, that was purple glittery glue on my shirt, I noted with disdain.

"I didn't do anything. I just smile at them and they attack me like rabid dogs."

"They must sense your fear." Tenten laughed at the disbelieving frown on my face and put the little girl down.

"If there's one thing kids love, it's when you can relate to them. Just find something that the kid likes to talk about and start there. It's not so hard." She walked off to the playroom, leaving me to wash up a bit before work.

"Relate to them, huh? Don't most people work that way?"


	3. Chances

Disclaimer – I can most definitely say that I'm not awesome enough to come up with something as great as Naruto.

A/N: The second chapter came to me right when I finished the last one. I have other chapters started, but they aren't in chronological order. ^_^; Hey, these things just come to me; I can't control them! Anyway, thank you to Inuyonas, EbonPurlight, ZuzVaiyo, and BlackCandy705 for reviewing! Look under you chairs, you all get cake! Okay, so you just get a warm feeling in your tummy knowing that you made little old me happy. :D Seriously though, I really love to know that someone out there is actually reading this.

BlackCandy705 beta'd this for me, so thank her for the lack of mistakes and such! Thank you BlackCandy705!

Chances

"Sasuke, what are you doing with the phone?" I stepped past him, moving to the fridge. He had his head on the counter and he was clutching the kitchen phone to his stomach. He lifted his head slightly.

"I can't believe he's still that much of an idiot," he sighed. I quirked an eyebrow and grabbed a soda.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Do you remember Naruto Uzumaki?"

I racked my brain, but could come up with nothing.

"Am I supposed to? Did he go to our school?"

"No, he used to be my best friend."

It hit me when he said that. I remembered blindingly bright blonde hair, a loud mouth, and a bad attitude towards girls.

"I just got off the phone with him."

"Why did you call him?"

"He called me. I didn't even know he had this number anymore. Apparently, he got a fortune cookie that advised him to reconnect with his past. He kept yelling something about the future being nearer than I think."

"Okay then..." I dismissed. Sipping my cola, I watched Sasuke out of the corner of my eye. "You want to 'reconnect with your past' don't you?" His eyebrow twitched slightly, and he turned to glare at me.

"What the hell gave you that idea?"

"Why would you be standing here, still holding the phone after a conversation with a person that you don't care about? In fact, you wouldn't have even talked to him. I know you have no problem hanging up on people." There were exactly seven times I could recall where Sasuke had hung up on me.

"Whatever." He stalked out of the kitchen, sending me one last dirty look over his shoulder.

"You still have the phone!" I called in a sing-song voice, grinning. I dodged the phone as it flew towards me, almost spilling my drink in the process.

Sitting opposite from my father in his study was comparable to facing a judge and jury, convicted of double homicide with the crime being caught on tape and your fingerprints decorating every available surface on the murder weapon. In short, it was a bad situation to be in. I felt sorry for Itachi as I spied on them through the window from across the courtyard. He sat there waiting patiently for our father's usual lecture on the benefits of joining the business world. Itachi was forced to sit through this at least once every month because of his career choice. He was an artist of sorts; well, more like an art critic than an artist. If you want the real explanation you'll just have to ask him yourself; I still don't quite understand what he does. The point is it's not 'taking over the business', so Father does not approve.

Itachi always sits there patiently, listening with a calm expression on his face and thanking Father for his advice when he gets up to leave. It's then that I usually rush over to the other side of the house to meet him. When I got to the hallway, I saw Sasuke whispering with Itachi.

"How was it?" I asked, interrupting their hushed conversation.

"The usual," Itachi said, brushing imaginary lint off of his pants. Narrowing my eyes, I crossed my arms. Itachi never brushed imaginary anything off of his pants. He was always unnaturally still, and it was creepy as hell.

"What's going on? Why were you whispering?" I kept my own voice low, in case Father was still near.

"Nothing," Sasuke immediately replied, brushing past me.

"Hey, don't keep me out of it!" I turned to trail after him.

"It doesn't concern you."

"This is completely unfair! I feel I deserve to know just as much as Itachi does!" Itachi put a hand on my head in an effort to calm me.

"It really is nothing Tsuki."

"If it's nothing, why can't you tell me?"

"Itachi, I didn't know you were here!" He turned around in time enough to be engulfed in a hug from Mother. "Why don't you ever call me? I'm your mother. The least I deserve is a call once in a while!" I covered my mouth in an attempt to smother my laughter at the expression on Itachi's face.

"Forgive me; I've been busy this month. In fact, I have to leave immediately. I just got an urgent call from Sasori about the new exhibit at the museum downtown. I'll make sure to talk to you later. Goodbye Mother, Tsuki, Sasuke." And with that he was gone.

"He's growing up so fast! My little Itachi, I remember when he was still in diapers."

I backed away slowly.

"Sure Mother, it's amazing how time appears to fly by when you aren't paying attention. I've got to leave now, homework and such that needs immediate attention." Escaping her reminiscing moments was always a good idea.

"Oh, I understand. Sasuke, why don't you come sit with me for some tea? I can tell you all about the time Itachi was born." Mother took his arm and started to lead him down the hallway. Escaping her moments _and_ leaving Sasuke to endure them was an even better one.

"A-Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Hinata, if you ask me that one more time, I swear I'm telling Neji about you accidently knocking his brush in the toilet." She made a show of closing her mouth tightly. I peered around the corner once again. Sasuke was still sitting there, checking the time on his cell every few seconds.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't stoop so low as to spy on someone. And when I say _I_ wouldn't stoop so low as to spy on someone, I mean I would send someone else to do it for a few hundred bucks. This time was different though. Sasuke had just as many staff members loyal to him who might be on the lookout for gossip about me spying. I couldn't take the chance that someone would open their giant mouth about me sending a spy out.

So here I am watching my brother check his cell every thirty seconds. I realized that he must be waiting for someone. If this had something to do with his whispered conversation with Itachi, I wouldn't be surprised. In fact, I was almost positive it did have something to do with that. What would he want Itachi to know about, but keep from me? Well, I was here to find out.

"Why d-do I have to be h-here again?" Hinata was doing that thing with her fingers again. Her nervous habits were cute, but showed too much weakness for me. I slapped her hands apart.

"You're here to provide an excuse should we be discovered," I hushed her. Turning back to watch Sasuke, I was surprised to find him standing and waving at someone. I followed his line of sight to see that blonde bastard who had been messing with me the other day after my visit to Itachi's.

"Holy crap, what the hell is he doing here?" I gaped. My brother waited for the blonde idiot to jog up to him before glancing around and walking down the street towards our hiding spot. I hurriedly shoved Hinata behind a dumpster before joining her there in the shadows. We were close enough to hear their conversation, though I doubted anyone could miss the blonde's loud voice.

"I'm really glad you actually called me out here! I didn't even think you'd call me back," the boy grinned. My brother scoffed.

"Yeah well, it's not like I had anything better to do."

"Aw, Sasuke, I know that's your way of saying you wanted to hang out with me!" I shifted a bit more towards Hinata as they got closer to our hiding spot. What I didn't expect was my foot being enough force to push the dumpster away from the wall, sending it rolling towards the street. I also didn't expect the dumpster to hit a crack and flip over on its side, showering Sasuke and his friend in mysterious, green substances.

"What the hell!"

Both Hinata and I decided that this would be a good time to try and sneak away.

"Who the hell-hey, what are you doing here?"

We stopped in our tracks and turned to see Sasuke brushing weird moldy things off of his jacket, glaring at us, and the blonde idiot trying to pull his shoe out of a massive glob of old mayonnaise.

"S-S-Sasuke, w-we were j-just trying t-t-t-to find um, scarves!" Hinata stammered quickly. Well, that was a flimsy excuse, I thought, but nodded along to encourage her. "I've run out! H-Hanabi keeps taking them. She's a-always borrowing things and n-never returning them."

"Right and I didn't have anything to do, so I decided to tag along." He raised an eyebrow. "It's the truth! What are _you_ doing here?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"Hey, you're that girl!"

Apparently, the blonde kid had given up on his shoe to point a finger dramatically at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, and you're that idiot."

"Don't call me and idiot!"

"Wait, you two don't know each other?" Sasuke seemed genuinely confused.

"Of course we know each other. Can't you hear us? He's the guy who was giving me trouble on the way home from Itachi's."

"'Giving you trouble'? If I remember correctly, I was trying to help you! You were the one who kneed me in the balls!" Hinata flushed scarlet at the word.

"No, I mean, you guys don't recognize each other?" my brother interrupted. I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Tsuki, that's Naruto."

Now that he said it, I wondered how I hadn't realized it before. You think I'd remember marks like those on someone's cheek.

"You're telling me that blond bastard is your best friend?"

"Wasmy best friend."

"This bitch is your sister?" Naruto was once again pointing a finger at me, this time with a disbelieving look on his face.

"'Bitch'? You're the one who wouldn't leave me the hell alone, creepy ass idiot!"

We were drawing a bit of a crowd with the yelling and trash pile. Hinata seemed to be trying to disappear behind my back and was nervously pushing her fingers together again. Sasuke just sighed.

"I still don't see why I have to be here."

I was sitting across from Sasuke and Naruto at a small dinner down the street from the overturned dumpster. They smelled pretty awful, so the booths on either side of us had been vacated with haste the moment we sat down.

Sasuke had allowed Hinata to call her driver to come pick her up, but demanded that I follow him and Naruto.

"You're here to pay for our food. It's the least you could do after throwing garbage on us."

"That was not me! How many times do I have to say it? Hinata and I were looking for scarves. We weren't trying to throw garbage on you. We were calmly walking along when we came across you two. We had nothing to do with the incident." I crossed my arms and leaned back in the seat. Sasuke let out another tremendous sigh.

"Whatever. The more important thing is that you need to stop stalking me. It's not your business whom I'm hanging out with." I was about to protest, but I realized that maybe he was right. Sasuke and I had always been thrust together as twins, but we were gradually growing away from each other. When we were smaller, we always met people together and befriended people together because Father was the one to pick who our friends were. Neji and Hinata were our friends only because our father and theirs decided it would be good for us to form bonds from early on. In fact, I think Sakura was the first friend I had made without my father's approval.

"I-I agree. We should not need to stick our noses in each other's lives."He gave me a blank stare and rolled his eyes.

"You also have to promise to get along with Naruto. Anymore yelling might give me a migraine."

"There is no way I can ever be friendly to someone like her!" the blonde protested.

"He yells even when he's not upset!"I said scathingly.

"My voice is just really deep!"  
"As deep as a six year old girl's," I smirked. I could see his face flushing with anger.

"Shut up. I don't care if you're friendly or not, just don't talk to each other then." Sasuke rested his forehead on the palm of his hand.

"Fine, I will attempt to control myself when in his presence."

"You can't. I make you go crazy just by looking at you."

I was appalled by the mischievous grin he sent my way and the double implications made in his statement.

"I can't believe you two…," Sasuke's statement was ignored as Naruto and I began to fight as to whether or not he was, and I quote, "the sexiest thing since sliced bread."

Sasuke and I shrugged off our jackets as we walked into the house. It wasn't until I was in my room and sprawled out on my bed with my algebra book that Sasuke decided to talk to me about Naruto. He leaned against my desk with his arms crossed.

"Tsuki, at least give him a chance." I knew he was being serious; it's not like my blatantly emotionally repressed brother always came in to talk about emotional stuff such as this.

"Sasuke, he's so loud and annoying and he obviously dislikes me. I can't-,"

"Tsuki…," _Do it for me. _I paused, groaning internally at what his eyes were saying.

"I'll try…," _If it's this important to you_. He smiled as much as he would dare and left without another word. I silently wondered to myself how many chances I was supposed to give Naruto Uzumaki before I was allowed to punch him in the face.


	4. Imagine

Disclaimer – I don't own Star Trek or Naruto, but Tsukaimono is mine.

A/N: Thank you to theAMAZing1 for the review! I do appreciate the feedback. :D

Imagine

I still wasn't used to my brother spending his time with Naruto. Usually, he only associated willingly with Neji-if he felt like gracing the world with his presence at all. In fact, I was pretty sure he was even failing to hang out with Neji at all. My speculations were confirmed as truth when the doorbell rang, and I walked by to see Neji being shown in.

"Neji, are you looking for Sasuke?"

"Yes, is he out?"

"He just went out to meet a friend."

"Oh…" Neji looked a bit let down, and I couldn't just leave him to wallow in loneliness, right? Well, I'm sure he had other things he could do, but it made me feel like a better person to imagine me saving him grief.

"I was just about to go to Sakura's to study. I know you're a year ahead, but would you like to come anyway? I'm sure we could use your elderly wisdom. She won't mind, and her parents probably won't either," I offered. He smiled a bit.

"Are you sure I wouldn't be imposing? I know you two like to gossip like old wives." Rolling my eyes, I led him to the sitting room. He immediately sat down on the couch.

"Just wait here for a bit. Would you like anything to drink while you wait?"

"No, I'm fine. Just don't take too long. With both my little cousins, I get tired of waiting on women to get ready. Why does the opposite gender take so long to prepare for everything?" He sighed dramatically and let his head fall back as if he was contemplating the answer to life.

"Oh, like you didn't spend thirty minutes brushing your hair exactly two hundred times before leaving the house." I laughed at his annoyed glare, and went upstairs to grab my things and call Sakura.

"I'm never going to get this. It's official; I give up! You two are my witnesses that I tried!" Sakura let the flash cards fall from her hands and fell back on her bed.

"You haven't even made it half way through them yet." Neji gathered the fallen cards back into a little stack. "At least attempt to learn all of them."

"Fine, fine, but why don't we take a break. There are chocolate chip cookies downstairs." She said. Sakura hopped to her feet.

"Why didn't you say so? Let's go!" Neji was now up as well and I was hauled to my feet by both of their insistent tugging and led down to the kitchen.

I grinned at Neji who had his eyes closed and was chewing slowly making little sounds of appreciation in the back of his throat.

"Whoa Neji, we're still here! If you want a moment alone, you just have to ask." He sent a glare my way and swallowed.

"That's easy for you to say. Every time there are cookies, that little piglet Hanabi devours them before I can even grab one chocolate chip. And you can imagine how often that happens. Uncle doesn't really have a sweet tooth," he replied. It was surprising the way I could easily forget the fact that Neji was an orphan. For a moment, I imagined how Neji's life might've differed if his parents or even just his aunt had still been alive.

"Neji, we know you're just a fat ass." Sakura grinned. I laughed at Neji's growl as Sakura stole some of his cookie.

"Okay, I think we should get back to studying before you two start fighting. Or Neji goes into a chocolate-induced coma, whichever comes first." Neji grabbed two more cookies from the plate and we all trudged back upstairs.

"I can go home if you want." Neji and I had just walked into my house and I was taking off my shoes.

"You don't have anything to do right?" He nodded. "Well neither do I. Plus I want to watch a movie and what fun is watching movies alone?" I waited until his shoes were off before dragging him to the kitchen to grab some popcorn and candy.

We had just put in Star Trek when the door opened. A few minutes later, Sasuke and Naruto walked into the room. Sasuke seemed to pause when he saw Neji on the couch.

"Neji, I didn't know you were coming over." Neji went right back to watching the movie.

"Yeah, Tsuki was nice enough to invite me to go to Sakura's with her." He didn't mention that he had actually come over looking for Sasuke.

"Naruto, this is Neji Hyuuga, Neji this is Naruto Uzumaki." Neji didn't take his eyes off of the image of James T. Kirk being born.

I bit my lip, wondering if I should try to ease the obvious tension in the room, but decided against it. It really wasn't my problem, though I didn't want to see Sasuke and Neji on bad terms.

Naruto, being the dunce he was, laughed sheepishly and walked over, plopping on the couch right next to Neji.

"Hey, Sasuke talks about you a lot. It's nice to finally put a name to the face. Oh, is this Star Trek? I love that movie! When it first came out, I watched it three times!" We all stared incredulously as Naruto babbled on, seemingly ignorant of the icy atmosphere. I was surprised when Neji started snickering and even more so when he laughed loudly, eyes closing and an arm wrapped around his stomach. Sasuke started to chuckle as well, and even Naruto joined in, confused as he was. I stared, a small smile growing on my face until I too was laughing. Sasuke took the space between Neji and I and we all settled back to enjoy the movie, still chuckling occasionally.

When the movie ended, Naruto said he had to go and after waving him off, Neji and Sasuke disappeared into his room. Walking past Sasuke's door, I heard them joke with each other as always, and I thought about Naruto. Maybe he wasn't so extremely awful. I wondered what would've happened if Naruto hadn't been himself and broken through the murderous feelings in the room. '_Imagine a world where everyone was as oblivious as Naruto._' I had to laugh at the thought.

It was a few days later that I was given my first clue as to all the madness that was about to start complicating my life. Of course, at the time, I had no idea something big was even going to happen.

"Excuse me Miss, your father requests that you meet him in his study immediately." I blinked. Why would Father want to speak with me? I was doing well in school; there hadn't been any big incidences around the house that could be connected with me.

I gave the maid a questioning look, but she only shrugged. Apparently, I wasn't the only one in the dark.

"Thank you Sora." She nodded and walked off. Steeling myself with a deep breath, I made my way to the other side of the house.

Before I could even knock on the door, my Father called, "Enter." _If that's not creepy as hell…_," I thought, opening the door. Closing the door behind me, I went and took the dreaded seat in front of his desk. It seemed like hours that I sat there waiting for him to put down the newspaper in his hands and tell me what he wanted.

"How's school going Tsuki?"

"Fine, Father."

"Good. How are Hinata and Sakura?"

"They're fine, Father." I already knew he didn't want to talk about my friends and school with me, and I sort of wished he would get to the point. That was one thing I didn't like about my father at the time. He was always treating us, his children, like business associates.

"Tsukaimono, what do you think of Neji?" Well, that surprised me. He already knew what I thought of Neji. I blinked.

"He's a good friend…"

"Is that it?"

"He's very smart as well, and nice. I've never heard a bad word about him, except that he might be a bit too ambitious at times. Why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular. Tell me more about you're school work. And what about Sunny Days?"

"Yeah, and he was asking me about you. It was really weird." I continued to slip my pajama shorts on, cradling the phone between my cheek and shoulder.

"Honestly, I have no idea why he's so interested in me," Neji replied from the other end, "Do you think he noticed Sasuke and I started hanging out again?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't really seem like something he would be concerned about. And he could talk to Sasuke if he wanted to know more." I turned off the light and jumped into bed, bouncing a few times. "Oh, well. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. I just want to know what the old bastard's up to." Neji laughed.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later. Hanabi wants something from me." There was a pause and I realized he was covering the phone with his hand. "I swear this is the last time I'm letting you play with my hair, Hanabi!" I choked back my own laughter.

"Bye, Neji."

"Goodnight."

Setting my phone down on the night stand I settled into bed. Things were getting weird. With Father suddenly gaining interest in Neji and Naruto melding himself into Sasuke's inner circle, I wasn't sure what was going on anymore. Deciding it wasn't worth worrying about right now, I rolled over several times before finally falling asleep.


End file.
